Midweek: does it feel like the week is going up or down for you?

It's hard to imagine that it's midweek again. Are your days rolling together, one after another?

Hopefully you take time to worship on the weekend. It breaks up the sameness of the day with a pause to reflect on God's goodness and care. Here's our feed, in case you've not yet joined a Sunday meeting. (You can listen to the replay if you sleep in, too.)

I'm working away on the quilt whenever the mood strikes me. I'll be happy when it's done, I admit.

Sunday, May 12, 2020
Someone lamented that they don't like Sunday mornings because  they can't go to a faith gathering due to social distancing. I was thinking of what fun it is, actually. W and I were still eating our breakfast on the porch at 8am. Usually we're at the conference center by 7am on Sundays. It's a short walk or a quicker ride if we have lots of gear to take along.

Now we don't have to dress up. W pulls on everyday clothes and heads to the office for a few hours. The office has decent internet, unlike our house. He starts a BIC Online livestream that has been assembled earlier by many volunteers.

The streets that used to teem with people, motorcycles, and cars (and tour busses) are deserted.

Our favorite restaurant is shuttered, though there's always someone there to make sure no one takes off with the cold ovens and cutlery.

The bustling food carts across the street from #MissBeeProvodore are closed up, too. Some have been hauled away. That's where the the drivers and helpers eat while their employers are in the restaurant. Food there is 50c-$1 instead of $5-10 at Miss Bee.

Now our new Sunday normal is that we enjoy the online Gathering with everyone else, commenting and getting in touch with people as they listen and chat.

By noon, we're done with the followup and eating lunch. That didn't happen on Sundays before! We'll miss these quiet days.

More than anything else, we miss the conversation and snacks after the Gathering We miss greeting friends around the Community Table. It's not the same to "grab a snack and listen along with us online," as it is to give a hug and listen to someone tell you about their week, face to face. 

We don't know when we'll be able to return to the conference center. We hope it's sooner rather than later. We've heard that places that gathered "too soon" now have hundreds of people sick. We hope to avoid that!

I'm doing soooo much cooking. I don't mind. It's quick and I get to eat exactly what I'm hungry for. Win win. It takes about the same time as going out and W washes up when I cook and clear things away.

Today's lunch is roti parata (Indian bread, fried from a frozen pack) topped with everything left over from yesterday's pizza, which W made in his razzle-dazzle pizza oven (his kickstarter buy). It is tasty, along with sour, fizzy homemade kombucha.

The asst governor's place down the street is deserted, though the gate is partly open. The red detox booth stands empty near the door. Anyone going into his house has to stand in the booth to get disinfected.

Monday
There's so much beauty around. This root and trunk catches my attention as we walk the dogs.

We have several meetings online. I miss one in the middle and then haven't planned well for the one at night. So it gets rescheduled for next week.
 
I can tell that one meeting is stressful by the pictures that emerge in my zoom journal. Pure weirdness but I don't notice until I look at it again the next day. Eek.

I completely forget about doing the Monday FB livestream until the afternoon. It's a sign that I'm worn out by the new routines but I haven't locked into their rhythm yet. Oh well, it's 3pm but the day's not over yet.

Tuesday

I've set the alarm to 2:00 am for a webinar I really want to hear. I'm exhausted when I wake up but all I get is the Q&A at the end. The time zone is East Coast, which is one hour and daylight opposite us. I'm off by one hour. Ugh. I stay up to learn something anyway and read a while, before getting back to sleep at 4:00.

The morning team meeting is online. I host from the office for good internet. Oh, I love a desk with a clean room all around me.

Well, it is cluttered with gear for recording. The coffee table is in front of the work table, propping up a monitor. If I pretend that all is in order, it's a calm space. (I've always had a good imagination, right, Mom?)

I don't go upstairs at home very often: W has been cleaning his office for the past month. Most of the contents are spread elsewhere while he reorganizes. (I recognize the impulse: it took me a few days to finish mine last month and I am happy with the results.) It will be nice when his organizing project is completed.

The massive poster in the GG hall is expired but I love the colors. Would it look good as a backdrop in the upstairs meeting room? Mmmmm. We bring it home to check.

It's big. It's bright. It would zip up the room with a jolt of colors. But I hardly get up upstairs. It's too pretty to hide away and there's other art on the walls.

I make a few calls. The BIC teens decide they'd like to put it in their area ... so it won't go to waste.

Wednesday

One of the neighbors painted their gate a neutral green. Our car gate is a big bold, green. The paint is flaking and rusting. The metal sheds its paint in the tropical heat and rainstorms. It's almost time to repaint. I like this green better - if I can find the color. (Last time I chose a mid-blue paint chip, I ended up with midnight grey-blue on the wall. Paint chips and numbers aren't reliable here.)

There are flowers along the road. There's alway something blooming. These pretty bulbs are similar to lilies but hold the pistel and stamen way up above the button centers of the 7" flowers.

I stroll past the little free library in our neighborhood on the dog walk. Ibu Wuri had the bookcase made and I brought the sign from Seattle. We're #2138 and first LFL in Indonesia. (now the library movement is over 100,000.) We got one of the early signups but didn't put it out until 10 years later.

The dogs love playing "Search" in the yard. They have to use their noses to find treats hidden in the grass and flowerbeds. "Find" is a different command = want something, Doggy? Find the ball from wherever we tossed it last time. Drop it into my hand, and here you go - treat time. Cocoa doesn't care. Gypsy loves the game and sometimes brings me something without my asking.

Wednesday
I'm bored with blue. Maybe we have something cheerier? In the linen cupboard, I find a lime table cover to brighten up the room.

We intersperse some green cushions among the blue. A tiny swap changes the mood.

Coming up next is a beige sofa slipcover that I sewed a few years ago. I'll wait a bit to do that so it feels like the seasons are changing in this never-ending summer that I like so much!

I wish I could invite you in for a cup of tea and to sit for a while to catch up. Is your house ready for summer?

Read more:

Do you not know?

    Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

    the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

    and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary

    and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary,

    and young men stumble and fall;

 but those who hope in the Lord

    will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

    they will run and not grow weary,

    they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31 NIV